Wes battles the Pokemon Trainers at the Duel Square and snags their Shadow Pokemon, and yes Wes will fight Emok too even though she doesn't have Shadow Pokemon but for this reason. Instead of flirting with Wes and calling Rui a wallflower, Emok, in this fanfic, is a more of a bully to Rui.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters.

Chapter 7: Shadow Pokemon at the Duel Square; The Strengthening Friendship of Wes and Rui

Wes and Rui were staying at the Hotel in Pyrite Town for the night. They were really tired from walking through the scorching desert after Wes's motorbike broke down and so they both slept fitfully that night. As the morning sun came up Wes woke up. He sat up and glanced at Rui, who was still fast asleep. The trainer got up and looked out the window. He could see outside that there were Pokemon Trainers coming out of their houses and heading for the central part of town, the Duel Square. The trainer then went over to Rui and gently shook her awake.

"Ohhh...is it morning already?" Rui yawned as she sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Yes it is now." Wes replied. "Come on Rui, we have work to do."

The two left the Hotel and went over to the Duel Square. They stood on the sidelines and watched as the thuggish Pokemon Trainers were sending out their Pokemon to fight each other. In Rui's eyes she could see that some of these pokemon were exuding black aura.

"They DO have Shadow Pokemon!" Rui cried. "Wes, do you think you can battle these trainers and snag them?"

"Not a problem." Wes responded. "Though we're gonna need more poke balls."

Of course the trainer only had three empty poke balls left as he already used two of them to snag Makuhita and Croconaw back at Phenac City. So the first thing they did was go to the town shop to buy some more poke balls, and since there was no Pokemon Center here the trainer bought some more medicines as well. Once they were stocked up they went outside and Rui watched as Wes went to go challenge the other Pokemon Trainers at the Duel Square.

Route 110 - Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire

Wes fought valiantly against each of the six trainers (one trainer at a time not all of them at once.) During these Pokemon battles the trainer mostly used Espeon and Umbreon. He decided to hold off on using any Shadow Pokemon he caught for now as he was unsure if they would obey him or not. Though the other trainers gave him a bit of trouble, Wes did manage to win against them and snag the Shadow Pokemon that they had.

The Shadow Pokemon he snagged were Noctowl, Misdreavus, Flaaffy, Skiploom, Slugma, and Quagsire. By the time Wes caught Noctowl and Misdreavus, he now had all six Pokemon with him. Any other Shadow Pokemon he caught after that were sent to the Pokemon Storage System in the PC.

Music stops

"Great work out there you two." Wes told his Pokemon. He saw that they were getting tired from all the battles they fought, so he took out one of the potions he had and sprayed it on Espeon, then Umbreon to help them recover their HP. The trainer then recalled them back to their Poke balls so they could rest.

"That was awesome, way to go Wes." Rui cheered. Then all of a sudden they heard a voice coming from behind them.

"That's very noble of you to go around stealing Pokemon from other trainers." The voice said. Wes and Rui turned around to see that it was a female thug. Her hair was brown and she wore a black bandanna on her head, a pink long sleeved shirt, black pants and pink boots. This girl recognized Rui when she saw her.

Petalburg Forest - Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire

"Well if it isn't little Miss 'Oh look that Pokemon has dark aura.' I didn't expect to see you back here so soon." She said facetiously.

"They're called Shadow Pokemon Emok, and we're trying to save them." Rui responded irritably.

"Oh is that so?" Emok commented. "And who's the boy that's with you? Did you get so scared of being all alone that you had to have a bodyguard? Girl, if you had your own Pokemon then you could've easily defended yourself against those guys that kidnapped you earlier."

Wes gritted his teeth and Rui started to feel hurt. She asked "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm saying that you're better off as a Pokemon Trainer. Orre is a tough place to live in since it's filled with creepy crawly chasers and hunters like us. Not to mention the scorching desert outside the towns."

"So?"

"Soooo, you need some Pokemon by your side if you want to survive out here. Otherwise, without them you'll surely get into some serious trouble and I wouldn't always count on that boyfriend of yours to save you, you know."

Rui was hurt by what Emok just said and started to tear up. Now Wes was furious, this person had no right to say all that stuff to his friend. Sure Rui wasn't a Pokemon Trainer but that didn't mean she had to become one, and the trainer certainly wasn't about to leave her to fend for herself either.

"That's enough, who do you think you are anyway?!" Wes shouted angrily as he grabbed two Poke Balls from his belt.

"What's this, are you challenging me to a Pokemon battle?" Emok asked.

"As a matter of fact I am, I'll teach you a lesson for talking to Rui that way!" The trainer responded.

"Geez somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning...very well let's go."

Wes vs Emok

Normal Battle - Pokemon Colosseum

Emok threw her Poke balls and sent out a bat like pokemon called Zubat, and a weird green creature called Gulpin. Wes then tossed his Poke balls and this time he sent out Makuhita and Croconaw. He decided to try using his Shadow Pokemon for this battle and see what would happen. Rui quickly wiped away the tears and watched the battle. She didn't sense any dark aura from neither of Emok's Pokemon.

(Looks like she doesn't have any Shadow Pokemon with her.) Rui thought.

"Alright Makuhita use Focus Energy." Wes ordered.

Makuhita's body began to glow red as he gathered energy, increasing the critical hit ratio.

"Croconaw, Bite attack on Gulpin!"

Croconaw ran up and struck Gulpin with his fangs, then returned to its side of the field. Now it was Emok's turn to attack.

"Gulpin use Sludge on Croconaw. Zubat, Astonish on Makuhita." Emok shouted.

"Gul-pin" Gulpin shot some purple goo from his mouth and it splattered all over Croconaw doing damage to him. Zubat then flew towards Makuhita and hit him with a dark shock wave.

As Rui watched the battle she suddenly gasped. In her eyes she could see that Croconaw was now shrouded in red aura instead of the usual purplish black aura. Rui was worried that something bad was gonna happen.

"Wes watch out, Croconaw is exuding red aura!" Rui shouted.

The trainer glanced at her and responded "Red aura, what does that mean?"

"I don't know, but you better be careful!" Rui replied.

Wes directed his attention back at the battle and shouted "Makuhita, Cross Chop on Zubat! Croconaw use Surf!"

Makuhita obeyed and his arms began to glow. Then he hit Zubat with his crossed arms causing serious damage. Croconaw however, ignored the trainer's orders and instead he used Shadow Rush. He charged at Zubat with the negative energy and landed the final hit. Zubat fainted and Emok recalled it to its poke ball.

(Croconaw didn't listen to me, he used Shadow Rush on that Zubat even though I told him to use Surf. These Shadow Pokemon are more dangerous than I imagined.) Wes thought.

"Hmph, you know it's not fair to have your Pokemon gang up on my Zubat like that." Emok said sounding displeased.

"Hey don't blame me, I don't know what happened!" Wes retorted angrily.

It was fortunate that Croconaw didn't attack Wes or his ally Pokemon, or even Emok for that matter. He didn't want to push his luck though, so he recalled his Croconaw back and then sent out Espeon.

"Whatever, Gulpin use Pound!" Emok commanded.

Gulpin began to charge towards Espeon...

"Dodge it, then finish it off with Confusion!" Wes ordered.

Espeon jumped out of the way of Gulpin's Pound attack, then used his psychic powers and landed the final hit. Gulpin fainted and Emok recalled it back.

Battle ends

Music stops

"So you won against me, big deal." Emok muttered. "You still shouldn't hang around with that girl, she's not even a Pokemon Trainer."

"So what? Why does that matter to you so much?" Wes countered.

"Whatever, I'm outta here." Emok said as she walked away.

Lavender Town - Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver

Wes recalled his Pokemon back to their Poke balls and went over to comfort his friend.

"You okay Rui?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Rui replied. "I'm sorry you had to get involved."

"Hey there's no need to apologize, no one deserves to be treated that way." Wes said. "What's with that girl anyway?"

Rui sighed. "Emok has always been such a jerk to me whenever I came here to this town. She's always going on and on about how I should've been a Pokemon Trainer, and that I shouldn't rely on others for help. I'll admit I never really wanted to become a Pokemon Trainer, but I guess I should've caught one, at least so I could fight back."

The teen boy placed his hand on Rui's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it." He said with a smile. "It doesn't matter to me if you're a trainer or not. You're a good friend Rui, and whatever happens I'll be there to help."

Rui looked up into his eyes. "You...you really mean that?"

Wes nodded. "Come on, now that we've saved more Shadow Pokemon, let's find this Duking guy and ask him about the Colosseum."

"You're right." Rui nodded in agreement. "Thank you Wes."

Wes took Rui's hand and they started walking down the street, heading for Duking's house. As they did Rui looked at Wes in astonishment.

(He's...holding my hand.) She thought. (He's actually holding my hand. I wonder if...maybe...maybe he likes...)

The teen girl blushed at the thought. She knew it was too soon to say for sure but it definitely seemed that Wes cared about her and wanted to keep her safe. It had only been about two days since they first met but since Wes had rescued her from Folly and Trudly back at Phenac City, and stood up to a mean girl who was picking on her, Rui had a feeling that this was the start of a good friendship for her and Wes. She wondered though...would they ever become more than friends?

"Ohh...he's so cool." She said to herself.

"What did you say?" Wes asked.

"Wha-oh uh hehe nothing, nothing important." Rui giggled.

And I think this is a good place to stop now. Hope you guys enjoyed, please review.